Former Fullerton Neighbor Accused : Memorial Service Set for ’81 Murder Victim

Today, almost a year since John Fischer’s skull was discovered in a remote wooded area of Riverside County and more than four years since his disappearance, memorial services will be held for the Fullerton youth.

Fischer, then 17, was last seen Dec. 30, 1981, leaving home in the family car, which was later discovered near Hiltscher Park in Fullerton, Riverside County Sheriff’s Detective Chris Taylor said. The family did not know where he had been going that day but had always remained hopeful that he would return, his mother, Jean Fischer, said.

Last February, a skull containing a bullet was discovered by Boy Scouts hiking in the Hurkey Creek area near Idyllwild. It was identified as Fischer’s through dental records. The skull, retained at the Riverside County coroner’s office for almost a year pending legal action, was released to the family last month, a coroner’s spokesman said. The rest of the body was never found.

Fischer’s former neighbor, David Richard Campbell, 40, has been charged with his murder. A preliminary hearing is scheduled March 21 in Mount San Jacinto Municipal Court, Hemet. Jean Fischer said that members of her family were “casual acquaintances” of the Campbell family.

Campbell is serving a 27-year-to-life sentence for the 1981 Halloween murder of William Kimble Raber of Buena Park. Taylor said Raber’s headless torso was found in Riverside County at Vail Lake, about 25 miles from where Fischer’s skull was found.

Detective Taylor said that the bullet taken from Fischer’s skull matched those from the gun used in the Raber murder. Campbell also had mentioned bits of information linking him to the victims in conversations with family members, who reported it to police, although he had “never told anyone a complete story,” Taylor said.

Fischer was “a loving son who had his whole life ahead of him,” Jean Fischer said. “He was ambitious and hard-working.” He had planned to graduate early from Fullerton High School and start his own business, she added.

Today’s services, she said, are an attempt to “complete my grieving and hopefully pick up my life again.”

Jean Fischer said family and friends will toast her son’s memory after the memorial service tonight at 7:30 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Fullerton. John Fischer’s remains were cremated. They will be buried in a private ceremony Friday beside the Fischers’ other son, Mark, who was killed in an accident in 1977. The family is suggesting donations to the St. Mary’s Catholic Church John Joseph Fischer Memorial Fund for educational needs.